Amazon has announced that Woody Allen will write and direct a new half-hour series for its video-streaming service — news that feels a little like hearing Mad Men‘s Don Draper just founded an Internet advertising agency.
Allen, known for his old-school approach to filmmaking, may be the biggest name from Hollywood’s old studio system to step into the modern TV age. Even as film stars such as Matthew McConaughey and Kevin Spacey rack up awards and critical praise for their television work, auteurs such as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch have developed TV projects that nearly erase old boundaries between the worlds of film and television.
“I don’t know how I got into this,” reads a quote from Allen included in Amazon’s press release on the deal. “I have no ideas and I’m not sure where to begin.”
Amazon released few details on the series, currently named Untitled Woody Allen Project. The series will feature half-hour episodes, but Amazon hasn’t said how many it will make, when they will be released or what the series idea is.
It’s a high-profile deal for Amazon, which made news Sunday by winning its first two Golden Globe awards for the original series on a character transitioning genders, Transparent.